The battle has been long, and hard fought ... but let there be no doubt that the Tea Party Movement have the statist forces in complete disarray.

As defeat after defeat is heaped upon them they must soon decide upon whether or not changing generals is a prudent course.

2012 is the critical year. A second Obama term remains a possibility as he has already begun to take credit for the TPM's policy victories.

That being said ... following 2012 it is entirely possible that the republichickens will have a 60 seat super majority in the senate, and a 100 seat edge in the house.

The heat must be kept on the RINO's to either leave or get with the program however. This cannot be allowed to end with another session of democrook lite.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Here’s the unvarnished pitch House Speaker John Boehner would love to make to his conservative critics if he could just let it fly: “You are winning, and winning decisively. So stop your whining.”

<span style='font-size: 14pt'>And here’s the unvarnished truth about that pitch: Boehner would be spot on.</span>

The winners and losers of this weekend’s 11th-hour budget deal may be in dispute. But the broader trajectory of politics, stretching back to the spring of 2009, is not. <span style='font-size: 11pt'>The Republican — and, yes, the tea party — agenda is not only ascendant, it’s driving the debate over reshaping government at every level.</span>

Jubilant top Republicans told POLITICO in interviews that they plan to use the momentum from the budget fight to take a hard line with President Barack Obama in the fiscal fights of the months ahead. ...

Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and a 2012 presidential hopeful, told us: <span style='font-size: 11pt'>“When you see [Democratic governors] Jerry Brown [of California] and you see Andrew Cuomo [of New York] wrestling with spending, and inevitably wrestling with the unions who elect them, you know you’re in a different era.”</span>

Obama himself seems to be responding to the GOP's push, with his senior adviser David Plouffe announcing Sunday that the president will deliver a major speech Wednesday laying out a more aggressive path for deficit reduction — including reform of entitlements, particularly Medicare and Medicaid.

Make no mistake, Obama did pretty well last week during the budget fight. <span style='font-size: 11pt'>Like any good politician, he’s sure to take credit for cutting spending, too, even though he fought it much of the way.</span> ...

But even Democrats recognize Republicans have the offensive on the spending issue — that they own it in a way Obama simply can’t. A top Democratic official, insisting on anonymity in order to be candid, said: <span style='font-size: 11pt'>“The fundamental problem of the whole process is Democrats have zero ability to describe what our view of government really is. So basically all we do is defend the status quo against attacks from the right-wing fringe of the GOP.”</span>

Look at the facts:

—The $40 billion in cuts was not only historically high, it was more than Boehner himself wanted to push for a few short months ago.

—Deficits are all the rage on Capitol Hill, and will be until Congress wends its way through the debt limit fight and the next budget. The word “deficit” appeared in 470 documents in the Congressional Record between the beginning of January and the end of March, more than in any session’s opening since 1995, according to a review by POLITICO. And Americans listened: Asked by Gallup to identify the most important problem facing the nation, 13 percent said “federal debt” in March of this year, up from 8 percent a year ago.

—<span style='font-size: 11pt'>The broader budget debate is now fought on the tea party’s terms: It’s not whether to reduce government, it’s by how much. This helps explain why serious centrist commentators and even some liberals PRAISED a $6 trillion budget cut plan proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.).</span> Remember how a similar plan was received two years ago?

—Thanks to a pickup of 675 legislative seats in 2010 - many because of these budget principles — <span style='font-size: 11pt'>the most sweeping work is getting done in states. Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana are now working, real-time labs for discovering how much the party can cut government - without cutting off the support of independents.</span> A GOP senator told us the party studies what happens in these state showdowns to test the limits of what will work here. One early finding: Many think Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) went too far, too fast by gutting union power without first educating the public.

—The real fight over spending erupted in late spring of 2009, and consider the results: <span style='font-size: 11pt'>The GOP won the governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey in 2009; the Scott Brown Senate race in Massachusetts in early 2010; then won back the House, picked up Senate seats and captured the most state legislative seats in a single year since Watergate</span> — all in November of last year.

“The country knows it’s in serious trouble,” Gingrich said. “You see this with Scott Walker, you see it with John Kasich [in Ohio], you see it with Rick Scott [in Florida], you see it with Chris Christie [in New Jersey], you see it with Mitch Daniels [in Indiana].” ...

The question that will determine how long this moment lasts for the GOP seems simple: will they overreach? The public clearly wants smaller government but clearly wants it done in a restrained and cooperative way. Some Democrats, for instance, are eager to take on Ryan’s proposal for restructuring (read: cutting) Medicare.

“If you overreach too far, you can get a backlash,” Thune cautioned. “We have to sound reasonable. But the reason the president moved so far is that he has recognized that the government has gotten much, much larger, and that most independents in the country are very uncomfortable with that.”

The tea party is restless: Will they feel compelled not to surrender next time - in the debt limit fight - because some will on this one?

Karl Rove said he worries about criticism that this weekend’s deal was inadequate. Some conservatives may say, “We’re talking about cutting billions, and we need to be cutting trillions.”

“We will create opportunities to cut trillions,” Rove said. “But you need to start with the smaller steps available now. I talked to a couple of members of the tea party faction in the House, and they went out of their way to say that Boehner has done a really good job of keeping us informed, he’s doing the best he can, and we’ve told him we were with him.” ...

“Democrats try to pull them off on Defense of Marriage [Act], or they try to pull them off on immigration,” Gingrich said. “Boehner just ignores them: <span style='font-size: 11pt'>‘Our future is bound up in Paul Ryan and the budget, the size of government, getting the economy growing again.’ … They have been very methodical about: Where are the jobs? And let’s cut spending.”</span>

The broader political concern for Republicans is this: Can they prevent Obama from claiming credit for the new frugal spirit? Obama wants to, and has more tools than his adversaries.

Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor and 2012 presidential candidate, said by phone from San Jose, Calif., that fiscal arguments have given the party a broader appeal as more people “became aware and educated that it’s not just a matter of political rhetoric – it’s a matter of sixth-grade math.”

“We are in for a sustained period of structural reform,” Pawlenty said. “The country is prepared for the change. The public deserves the truth. They can handle the truth. … Given how deep the hole is, I’m not worried about overreach. I think we should try to be as bold and courageous as the American people will tolerate, and we need to lead them there.”

Unfortunately they are praising the equivalent of cutting 1 cent on the dollar.

They move from 100 billion to barely 40 billion? They did not even get 50%. Thats unacceptable.

Ryans budget takes 25 years to balance. Rand Paul and others have a budget coming out that will do it in 6.

The president is now running to get his budget out because they calculated that Ryans budget would be met with jeers instead of praise. The man in nothing more than a sock puppet more concerned with reelection than the welfare of the nation.
Even 2 of his ex economic team appear to be turning against him.

LWW

04-11-2011, 06:06 AM

I agree ... but it is also a 180 from the last direction.

Also, this is the dems budget they punted ... not the GOP budget.

pooltchr

04-11-2011, 06:27 AM

The Reps are going to blow the opportunity to win the White House in 2012. Obama is incumbent, and it will take a strong candidate to knock him out. Think about it...in the last 100 plus years, the only incumbent to lose in a re-election bid was Jimmy Carter.

However, with a field like Mitt, Newt, Sarah, the Donald, and the Huckster, even Obama has a good chance of hanging on.

Steve

Sev

04-11-2011, 08:48 AM

If oil goes to 5 bucks a gallon, winter fuel prices spike along with food prices and the economy contracts again not even Obama will be immune to it.

4 years of hope and change will be seen as a massive failure.

LWW

04-11-2011, 05:54 PM

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: pooltchr</div><div class="ubbcode-body">in the last 100 plus years, the only incumbent to lose in a re-election bid was Jimmy Carter.

Steve </div></div>

And GHWB ... and Gerald Ford ... and Herbert Hoover ... and William Howard Taft ... and LBJ, who although he didn't lose knew he couldn't win.

Being the incumbent has at least as much baggage as it does help.

JohnnyD

04-13-2011, 05:53 PM

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Sev</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If oil goes to 5 bucks a gallon, winter fuel prices spike along with food prices and the economy contracts again not even Obama will be immune to it.

4 years of hope and change will be seen as a massive failure. </div></div>Already is.